B U CA I

B U CA I
John Babalanda, a community
volunteer with the Buseta
Community AIDS Initiative, BUCAI.
“When I reach
a house, first,
I look at the
sanitation...
Is there a latrine?
Is there a kitchen?
I encourage the
residents
to maintain good
hygiene with their
cooking and
”
eating utensils.
— JOHN BABALANDA
With AIM support, BUCAI has been able to increase its
outreach to people in the community living with HIV.
By the standards of Kituti
sub-county, where John
Babalanda and his ancestors
have lived as long as anyone
Babalanda was part of the first wave of 63
can remember, he is a prosperous farmer.
community volunteers that BUCAI recruited
The five acres that he tills in the village
and trained for home visits to HIV/AIDS
of Bukalijoko yields a variety of cash crops:
clients. “Our communities are very poor,
soybeans, cotton, millet, corn, cassava,
and many of our sick people can’t manage
bananas, and rice. The income supports his
to reach health centers or hospitals on their
two wives and nine children aged 24 years
own,” notes Frank Mugoda, the BUCAI
to 18 months. His status in the community
coordinator.
is such that he serves as an elected member
of his sub-county’s governing council.
When he calls on people suffering from
HIV/AIDS, Babalanda says he spends as
Yet the only mode of transport that the
much as two hours a visit. “When I reach
43-year-old Babalanda owns is a sturdy
a house, first, I look at the sanitation,” he
bicycle. A light-weight man, he relies on the
says. “Is there a latrine? Is there a kitchen?
bicycle to navigate along the area’s bumpy
I encourage the residents to maintain good
dirt roads, which respond with clouds
hygiene with their cooking and eating
of dust when cars or trucks drive past him.
utensils.” If those whom Babalanda is
visiting are bedridden, as they often are,
Four years ago, pained by the death and
Babalanda asks about their symptoms.
suffering that HIV/AIDS was inflicting on
“I ask about diarrhea or coughing, and
people in his sub-county, which is in the
I explain how they can care for themselves.”
Pallisa district of Eastern Uganda, he signed
If Babalanda believes that a case is serious
on as a community volunteer for Buseta
enough to require a healthcare professional’s
Community AIDS Initiative, BUCAI. A nonattention, he refers the person to a commugovernmental organization located two
nity nurse or hospital. With funds received
miles from Bukalijoko in Buseta village,
from AIM in 2004, BUCAI strengthened the
BUCAI provides outreach care for people
home-care program that Babalanda and other
with HIV/AIDS.
community volunteers were offering. BUCAI
BUILDING COMMUNITIES
AND SERVICES
John Babalanda uses the bicycle
provided by AIM to visit people living
with HIV and AIDS in their homes.
trained and deployed 24 new community
volunteers and supplied them with bicycles.
It augmented the advice and counseling by
providing the volunteers with home-based
care kits to distribute to people living with HIV.
The kits contain an assortment of basic
healthcare items (soap, towels, latex gloves,
mosquito nets, and so on). A mosquitonet-draped bed, for instance, protects
against malaria, a potentially lethal threat
to anyone with an HIV/AIDS-compromised
immune system. BUCAI volunteers handed
out 112 of the kits last year, explaining what
purpose each item serves and how to use
it most effectively.
In addition, BUCAI used the AIM grant
to widen its reach. It was able to cover
all of Kibuku County, comprising Kituti and
three other sub-counties. By late 2005,
AIM'S ROLE
Provided funding, technical assistance, and capacity
building
TOTAL GRANT
Ush 36,909,951
CONTRACT PERIOD
June 2003 to December 2005
ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED
Prevention for targeted populations
Home-based care
Behavior change communication
BY AIM
OTHER DONORS/
PARTNERSHIPS
The AIDS Support Organization (TASO)
AIDS Information Center (AIC)
Food and Development Project (FADP)
ActionAID
BUCAI’s client list had grown to 476 people.
Despite the progress, Babalanda says,
it’s too early for congratulations. “Not yet,
because AIDS is still going on,” he says.
“We don’t know what will happen next.”
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